The Damascus Dossier is a cross-border investigation based on a cache of classified Syrian intelligence records obtained by German broadcaster NDR and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The project uncovered harrowing new evidence about the brutal regime of former Syrian president Bashar Assad— including the regime’s ties to international organizations— and sheds new light on potential war crimes, human rights violations, and the enduring trauma faced by families of the disappeared.
The reporting is based on more than 134,000 files (approximately 243 gigabytes of data), written primarily in Arabic and spanning more than three decades. The documents originated from Syria’s Air Force Intelligence, the General Intelligence Directorate and other security services — services sanctioned by the United States and Europe for their brutality, including torture and sexual violence.
Among the most consequential material in the cache was the largest photographic archive of deceased Syrian detainees ever obtained by journalists: 33,000 images documenting over 10,200 bodies of people who died in detention between 2015 and December 2024.
Over eight months, ICIJ, NDR and 24 media partners in 20 countries undertook the painstaking work of organizing, translating and analyzing the records, consulting forensic experts, legal specialists and human rights investigators, and interviewing Syrian families still searching for loved ones who vanished under Assad’s rule. The scale, sensitivity and emotional toll of the material posed extraordinary ethical and practical challenges.
The result is a body of work with significant global impact. The Damascus Dossier has contributed to greater international understanding of the Assad regime’s machinery of repression and to accountability efforts targeting potential war crimes and human rights violations. For some families, the project’s analysis has offered long-sought answers — and, in certain cases, a measure of closure — about the fate of loved ones missing or murdered during the country’s civil war.
For its originality, rigor, moral seriousness, and tangible impact on accountability and victims’ families, we respectfully submit the Damascus Dossier for your consideration.
